(Clearwisdom.net)
Cultivating While Working With Practitioners
Teacher said,
"You should always be benevolent and kind to others, and consider others when doing anything. Whenever you encounter a problem, you should first consider whether others can put up with this matter or if it will hurt anyone. In doing so, there will not be any problems." (Zhuan Falun, 3rd Translation Edition, 2000 U.S.A.)
I did not quite understand this passage before. While working on projects with other practitioners, I typically use emails to communicate, so how would I know whether or not the other person is able to put up with my actions?
Knowing that I did not know what to do, Teacher arranged for someone to help me.
Once, I sent an email to discuss how to perform a task, and I mentioned a possible mistake that someone made. As soon as the email was sent, a practitioner called me and said that my message sounded quite unfriendly, and that many of my emails were like this. He suggested that I should add a sentence at the beginning of the email, such as "Can someone please help me with this problem?" in order to make it sound nicer. Only then did I realize that I appeared to be criticizing others when speaking about how they handled things.
Afterwards, I observed others' email communications, and noticed how the tone of voice in some emails may have caused negative effects, so I reminded myself to pay attention when composing emails. When we discuss various plans for a project, it is very easy for us to judge whose ideas are better or not. Therefore, I make sure that I do not have the attachment of competition and showing off.
I usually take the time to think about what I want to write in an email, but there is usually no time to think when speaking directly to someone. Once, a coordinator called me about a financial issue concerning our local Shen Yun performance. She said that we were losing tens of thousands of dollars because I did not listen to others' suggestions. I thought, "You don't know the specifics, and that is why you are upset. I know what is going on, so there is no problem. You are blaming me for no reason and I cannot be moved." I told her that there should not be any loss, and to wait a few days after the books were reconciled - then everything would be clear. She still sounded upset, but since there was nothing she could do, she hung up the phone.
I told my wife what had happened, and she said that my attitude of not being moved was actually very upsetting. I thought that as a practitioner, I should not upset others, and should make up for it quickly. I did some calculations to make sure that the numbers matched our projection, and explained it to the coordinator.
I thought about this incident, and realized that when someone is upset, it is human nature to comfort the other person first, then help him or her. I only noticed that I was not wrong, and did not think about the coordinator when she was upset. Only when we let go of the self, can we put ourselves in another person's shoes.
Although I remind myself to think of others first, I still forget about others when my state of mind is not good. Not too long ago, a coordinator asked me to take care of a new task, which meant that I had to put down the important project I'd been working on and concentrate on the new job. I spent about a week on this task; not only did I waste a lot of time, but did not get much done, and could not find anyone else to help. I became irritated, and emailed the coordinator saying that this new task affected my daily project, and I did not want to work on it any more. He agreed with me, however, my wife said that the coordinator may have had other ideas. I called him and he said that he wished that I could spend just a little extra time to work on the new task, and I agreed. Since I was the main person working on the new task, and told him that I did not want to deal with it any longer, the coordinator did not dare to express his wishes. When one is an irreplaceable person or the coordinator of a project, one should maintain a humble and open mind, in order to enable everyone to get the work done.
One of the most difficult situations is when we have disagreements. I once suggested a new idea about managing and monitoring project expenditures. During the following weeks, I spent a lot of time sharing this new idea, the operating method, and details of the plan. The majority of practitioners agreed; only a few opposed, and we exchanged ideas via email. During those days, I could not help but think of the discussions and how I should respond if someone said something. These thoughts interfered with me when I studied the Fa. Later, I realized that I should not be attached to the outcome and should just share my thoughts.
Eventually, everyone expressed their opinions and I noticed that most people understood that the opposing views of my plan were unreasonable, yet there were still those in opposition. Consequently, the coordinator overturned the original plan, gave us several reasons, and asked us to give up my idea. One of the reasons for this, was that those who opposed my plan would not back down. I thought that none of the reasons made operational sense, could not be sustained, and were not based on the Fa principles. I rebutted every opposing reason and argued against them. Neither side wanted to compromise.
I was very frustrated. Why were there so many opinions on such an obvious matter? I studied the Fa many times, and realized that using reasons to convince others is a principle of this world, but it is not so for a cultivator. We often refuse to compromise when we argue with each other. During the process, I tried to look for attachments that I should let go of, and reminded myself to ignore my ego and reputation, yet I had no breakthrough.
The argument continued and got worse. It involved more practitioners and issues, including previous conflicts and future matters. One day, I received an email, but refrained from replying. I told myself not to think about it and to study the Fa first. At the time, I felt like I was going through an endless, painful process, and wondered why I could not overcome it. During Fa study, I encountered this passage,
"What is "Xinxing"? It includes de (a type of matter), tolerance, enlightenment quality, sacrifice, giving up ordinary people's different desires and attachments, being able to suffer hardships, and so on. It encompasses various things." (Zhuan Falun, 3rd Translation Edition, 2000, U.S.A.)
I felt lighter afterwards. Suffering hardship can upgrade one's xinxing. Isn't that why we cultivate ourselves? I also understood that a coordinator needs to expand one's view to look at a problem. All of a sudden, I felt that my mind opened up. After Fa study, I read the email again, and although I still thought his ideas were wrong, I decided to take a different approach in order to break the deadlock.
This May, I read an article on the Minghui website that helped me handle ideas that seemed wrong to me. In the article, the practitioner recalled the days when Teacher spread the Fa in China. One story was about practitioners asking Teacher questions. Teacher responded indirectly to one of the questions, and said that he needed to handle matters in another dimension in a quiet way. The practitioner could not resist and asked the question again, and Teacher explained it to him. There was a photo of Teacher lecturing on the Fa. I recall that many things done by practitioners were wrong, but Teacher did not immediately and forcibly stop them. I realized that Teacher looked at and balanced things from the perspective of all beings, and offered salvation to all. If I could broaden my perspective, then I should be able to handle different opinions better.
Melt Into the Fa
Since Teacher is leading the Shen Yun Performing Arts, I thought that I could learn how to run a project better by getting involved.
After watching the Shen Yun introduction video and hearing some stories, I knew that I had to reach a high standard, and be involved and trained professionally. Nevertheless, I was very busy managing an ongoing project, and thought that it would be very hard to be trained professionally, and I would not have the time.
I thought that perhaps I should raise my xinxing level to make more time and forbear more hardship. Last year, I read sharing articles from practitioners in China, and I envied their eagerness to cultivate when they first learned about Falun Gong.
During a group sharing, we talked about how a practitioner was interfered with by sickness karma. His wife said that he was very weak, did not study the Fa much, and spent a lot of time on the Internet reading news about the presidential election. Other practitioners suggested that he should stop reading the Internet news. I used to read news articles on political commentary, and was concerned with the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) crisis, economic trend, and prophetic warnings. I must have had an attachment to the fall of the CCP. When I took a break during my project, I read news and commentaries. Since my project required me to look at the computer screen, I was actually not resting when I read the news, so I thought that I should stop reading too, since my project did not involve news. At first, I only read The Epoch Times headlines.
At the same time, I memorized "For Whom Do You Exist?" and "Melt Into the Fa" (from Essentials For Further Advancement). Since my project had nothing to do with the news, I thought that I should get rid of non-cultivator's thoughts. This way, my heart was calmer in my daily life, and when working on my project.
After a few months, I could not resist reading the news content when I glanced at the headlines. Then I read more and more articles, and almost returned to the previous state. I thought that I could not go on like this, so I stopped reading the headlines, and only bookmarked Clearwisdom.net and Pureinsight.org. Periodically, I wanted to read the news, but was often aware of this desire and restrained myself.
During this period, I read a lot of stories about famous ancient people; some of them really touched me. For example, Emperor Yao's wish to manage the country well, and Huo Qubing's famous quote, "How could I have a family if cannot get rid of the Huns." I learned that heroes in the ancient times set their personal gains aside. Perhaps people around them could not understand them, but those heroes only wanted to accomplished their missions -- especially the founders of new dynasties. People did not understand them at first, but came to admire them afterwards. Teacher said, "Dafa disciples are the great figures of our time." ("To the European Fa Conference in Stockholm") I think that practitioners should have a greater responsibility than the ancient great figures.
Improve the Quality and Technical Proficiency of the Project
During the 2009 Shen Yun World Tour, I learned that the Shen Yun organizers and performers had a heavy workload. Their flawless and detailed performances created a tremendous impact, and their solid training enabled them to use dance to tell stories, establishing a new frontier in the field of performing arts.
This was a different experience from what I learned in school. When doing mathematical proof exercises, one either proved it or not, and did not need to pay attention to details. When I was a student, I thought that the person who could solve a mathematical problem that no else could was the greatest. I was very quick at doing the exercises, and I took more classes than the school required. Nevertheless, they were quite easy and I did not exhaust myself.
Now when I'm working on the project, I deal mostly with details, solving multiple problems, and then I take a break and celebrate. The task is never-ending, and the hardest part is not the technical difficulty, but that it is boring. I had no choice but to change my habits. I had to learn to be more cautious and organized, like an accountant and a secretary. When I'm calmer and more organized, I notice that things are not as boring. After witnessing the miracles that Shen Yun brought, I think that I can reach a technical breakthrough in my project by being more detail oriented.
This year, I set aside more time to go through technical training. I consulted with practitioners who are more experienced, read some books, and learned new methods developed by people in mainstream society. When we plan and coordinate large projects, the key is not the application of a high tech solution, but using low maintenance methods to solve current problems, so that we can apply it to similar cases.
After listening to Teacher's 2009 lecture in New York, I understand that in order to do the projects well, we need to cultivate better to bring more people into the projects, and to coordinate well with each other. I have not done well in the past in these areas and do not know how to improve yet. I hope that I can do better in the future.
This is my recent cultivation experience. Please kindly point out anything inappropriate.
